In the Stacks
In anticipation of award-winning storyteller Jim Weiss' visit Nov. 8-9, this week's column is devoted to stories on tape for kids.
Good listening skills are a necessary part of children's cognitive development. Besides helping kids develop their imaginations, listening skills reinforce vocabulary, correct pronunciation and allow kids whose reading skills aren't up to their thinking level to get a hold of more complex material. Plus, you're never too old to be read to!
For the little ones:
• "Tell me a Story!" by Jim Weiss. Need some classics to listen to with your child? This CD contains "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," "Rumpelstiltskin," "The Little Red Hen," and more! (CD)
• "Sweet Dreams," by Jim Weiss. Do you want something to ease your child to sleep? Try this enchanting collection of bedtime visualizations accompanied by sleepytime music. One warning: it will probably work on you, too! (CD)
For chapter book readers:
• "Because of Winn-Dixie," by Kate DiCamillo. A lonely girl named India Opal adopts an uncommonly friendly dog she names Winn-Dixie (a grocery store; the equivalent of a dog being named Fred Meyer here), and through Winn-Dixie, she makes a lot of unusual friends. (audio tape)
• "Sherlock Holmes for Children," by Jim Weiss. Appreciate the difference a storyteller can make to four of Sherlock Holmes' best mysteries. Try "The Mazarin Stone," "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "The Musgrave Ritual," and "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." (audio tape)
• "Spooky Classics for Children," by Jim Weiss. Stories from Oscar Wilde, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Rudyard Kipling whose plots will send chills up your spine! (CD)
• "Boomerang!" This kids' magazine-on-cassette is aimed at kids ages 6 and up and features segments like Big Talk (a cross between Ann Landers and Car Talk), Turning Points (where historical figures are interviewed about decisions that changed the world) and The Big Idea (current events made clear for kids). Also look for: mystery stories, money talk and lots of jokes - some funny, some groaningly bad! (audio tape)
For older chapter book readers and young adults:
• "Witches, Queens, Goddesses," by Susan Strauss. Atmospheric and dramatic storytelling from another master of the genre. Strauss is a linguist by training, and has stories from many cultures in her repertoire. Listen to "Persephone," "Maruska and Finist the Falcon," "Venus and Adonis," and "The King of Cats." (audio tape)
• "Homeless Bird," by Gloria Whelan. Koly is thirteen and already widowed. Now she's been abandoned by her mother-in-law in this story set in contemporary India. In the past she would have been condemned to a life of begging, but times are changing and Koly learns a trade to support herself and eventually finds happiness. (audio tape)
• "Make Lemonade" and "True Believer" by Virginia Euwer Wolff. These books follow LaVaughn from the time she is fourteen until she celebrates her sixteenth birthday. At fourteen, she takes a part-time job babysitting for a seventeen-year old with two kids, and sees firsthand how pregnancy could change her options. At fifteen, her childhood best friend moves back into the neighborhood, and she finds her relationship with him very confusing until she finds out the secret he's hiding. (audio tape)
Come to the downtown library on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. to listen to some amazing stories from Jim Weiss. And, if you want to learn to tell your own, sign up in advance for the Saturday storytelling workshops by calling Carol Race at 586-0434.